“Very beautiful”: The best Lou Reed covers, according to Lou Reed
There is a very fine line between homage and insult, and the elusive art of the cover song is a perfect example of this fact. While often well-intentioned, some cover versions come across as insulting bastardisations of the original tracks. On the other hand, a good cover version can offer an entirely new perspective on an artist’s work. Thanks to his position as a revolutionary figure within music, Lou Reed was the subject of countless cover songs over the years, some good, some bad, and some ugly.
Reed left an incredible mark on the musical landscape. Forming The Velvet Underground alongside John Cale in 1965 was a revolutionary act and, while it was not appreciated by mainstream audiences at the time, went on to inspire everybody from David Bowie to Arctic Monkeys. The experimentalism and songwriting mastery of the Velvet Underground were unlike anything audiences had encountered before, and that originality carried itself over into Reed’s extensive solo career, too.
It was as a solo artist that Reed found more widespread acclaim, thanks largely to classic tracks like ‘Walk On The Wild Side’ and ‘Perfect Day’. These releases tended to coincide with the rise of alternative rock and styles that had been directly influenced by the songwriter’s earlier work. As such, countless artists used their own platform to pay tribute to the songwriting of Lou Reed, which had inspired their own sound.
Everybody from Alex Turner to Bob Seger has covered Reed over the years, each imbuing their own unique style and influence into the timeless songwriting of the Velvet Underground founder. Inevitably, certain covers have since risen to the top of the landscape, triumphing over the various disappointing or unimaginative efforts that have been recorded – usually, those that appear on tribute albums like The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed or I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to The Velvet Underground & Nico.
We could spend all afternoon discussing the best and worst covers of Lou Reed’s legendary songwriting – indeed, we previously have done – but if anybody is qualified to highlight the best Lou Reed covers, it is the man himself. Luckily, during a 1998 interview with Paul Du Noyer, the Transformer songwriter did just that. Asked for his favourite cover versions of his own work, he immediately heaped praise onto his former Velvet Underground bandmate, Moe Tucker.
“Maureen Tucker did a version of ‘Pale Blue Eyes’ that I really liked,” the songwriter shared. The song, originally released on The Velvet Underground’s self-titled album, has been covered by the likes of Patti Smith, R.E.M., and Edywn Collins, but Reed seemed to prefer the version recorded by Tucker. The Velvet Underground drummer revisited her early musical work in 1988 for the incredible solo album Life In Exile After Abdication.
Tucker’s version of ‘Pale Blue Eyes’ is not the only Lou Reed cover that the songwriter enjoyed. Continuing, he shared, “U2 did a beautiful version of ‘Satellite Of Love’, and so did Annie Lennox when she was with Dave Stewart. Duran Duran’s version of ‘Perfect Day’ I thought was very beautiful too.” He also added, “Cowboy Junkies’ ‘Sweet Jane’, I always like what Margo Timmins did.”
So, while recording the perfect cover song might be a tricky art to master, Lou Reed himself managed to find a healthy mix of covers of his own work that he enjoyed. Despite being famously hard to please, it seems as though the songwriter was not above giving praise to the artists that his extensive discography inspired.
